10)

My Great Uncle, or Gruncle, Drew, Charles's Dad, arrived the day before the combination family reunion, housewarming, and birthday party.

On his own two feet.

Drew had lost his right leg to diabetes years ago and my Grandpa had bitten him to turn him into a werewolf, with his consent, to see if the health benefits of magically powered health and shape changing would restore a limb that had been lost before becoming a werewolf.

It did, as well as making him skinnier, and even making him younger looking.

It also made him confident enough to grab hold of me and lift me up in the air while hugging me, even shaking my legs side to side as he did so. “Sara girl. Happy fourteenth eve!”

“Oof? Gruncle Drew! Put me down, I'm too big to be picked up." I managed to pry myself loose without hurting him, mainly since he let go of me. He looked down at me with a proud smile, and a little bit of sadness in his eyes. "I didn't get the chance to pick you up when you were younger and smaller, and I wasn't going to try it with only one real leg to stand on."

Then he looked over at Ami and Aran who had caught up to me in front of the garage in time to see me get lifted. With a predatory smile he took a step in their direction sending both of them running with a scream, Ami, and giggles, Aran.

“Run children, run. The big bad wolf is coming for you. There will be hugs!”

Getting his leg back had turned him into a different man, or maybe just back into the man I had never had the chance to meet.

My Great Grandmother had been pretty upset when her daughter, her one and only heir, had run off to go to college and then came back pregnant. She had only agreed to not kill my Grandpa if Grandma Brianna agreed to never see or contact him again. So I never knew any of this part of my family until I showed up at Grandpa's front gate.

And tomorrow I was going to have to meet just about all of them that were still left. All the while being the mysterious granddaughter who had showed up out of nowhere just after the youngest brother in their family had won the lottery.

My Dad’s family consisted of some of the strongest magic wielders in the world. My Mom’s family consisted of an entire clan of magic warriors. But I was still freaking out over a group of people that aside from my Grandpa and his brother were all normal people.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Well, Charles was dating a vampire, but she couldn’t attend the party, even after it got dark.

Werewolves and Vampires didn't socialize, at least not in person. Vampires smelled really bad to werewolves, while werewolves smell delicious to vampires.

That would make it awkward at a party.

I had met Nicole, Charles's girlfriend, on Skype. She seemed nice and was pretty too.

Grabbing some of Gruncle’s Drews bags out of the car, I caught up with him, Ami, and Aran just in time to see him chase Ami into the house and hand off a squealing Aran from under his arm off to my Mom.

“I’ll get you later little girl, you’ll have to come out for food.”

Most of the rest of that day was taken up with food, either preparing it, watching for the deliveries, or helping to put the whole deer Gruncle Drew had brought with him into the cooking pit.

My Grandpa’s only sister had married a Jewish man, so no roast pig, or bacon. My Grandpa had sighed when he complained about, “The sacrifices we make for family.”

Of course, we had bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches for lunch, and pork chops, cheesy potatoes with diced bacon, and green beans for dinner. Mom had to stop Grandpa from putting bacon in with the green beans, “Enough John, we get it. I would like to enjoy something else as well.”

She did like the almonds slivers and fried onions in the green beans though. She scooped out some on a bed of rice she had added to the dinner since Grandpa had learned to let her make something for the family dinners or she got upset and Dad would chew him out.

Grandpa also ate the rice with every indication of really enjoying it, without Dad having to tell him to do so. I don't give the old man much credit for it, if it was food set down in front of him, he was going to enjoy it. I did give him points for not adding anything to it other than the low sodium soy sauce my Mom had set out.

I let my Dad mention something about old dogs and new tricks the first time he let Mom make a whole meal, he had better timing than me. Got the old guy when he was drinking and made him choke to not to spit it out.

I had bowed to the master. There was so much left for me to learn.

Early the next morning I got woken up by my cousin Charles knocking on my door. "I got stuck picking up my Aunt and her people at the airport. You’re coming with me so I don’t have to answer everyone’s questions repeatedly all morning.”

While I wanted to help get things ready, I knew waiting around all morning for these people, my family, would make me a nervous wreck. “Okay, let me grab a shower.”

We headed out in the big white van Grandpa had rented for the weekend before the sun was fully up, which mean we had to stop along the way to get something to eat. As Charles had planned. “We’re getting McDees, my treat if you don’t complain.”

I shrugged. He had never gotten on my case about me talking about healthy eating and then eating the same stuff as everyone else. So for once, I could eat what I wanted without the need to protest or risk getting teased. Besides, they had pancakes. “Can I try a coffee?”

He nodded. "Put a lot of sugar and creamer in it if you haven't tried it before. You got to kind of work your way up to drinking the stuff."

When we got up to the pickup window he asked for extra sugar and creamer. "It's her first try at coffee."

I glared at him. “She didn’t need to know that.”

He just grinned at me. "It's not like you're ever going to see her again. Strangers are great for telling things to that you aren't ready to talk about to the people you know."

A half hour later we got to the Mt Pleasant airport, parked, and rode the shuttle to the airport to wait for the flight in from New Hampshire by way of Detroit.

When the older couple got off the plane, with their children, their children's spouses, and their grandchildren, the older woman walked straight over to me, utterly ignoring Charles as he tried to make introductions.

“Oh god. You do have her eyes.” Then my Grand aunt, or would it be Graunt, Lois hugged me tightly.

At least she didn't try to pick up in the air, despite having four inches on me. That put her solidly in place as my number two old person on this branch of my family tree, and not that far behind Grandpa Lathe.